Free Republic

Despite acknowledging that the Center for Disease Control's moratorium against the collection of rent and against the eviction of nonpaying renters is illegal, President Biden allowed the CDC to extend the moratorium for another three months. "The bulk of the constitutional scholars think the moratorium is illegal," Biden admitted. "Hell, the Supreme Court recently declared that it is not legal. But there are a few scholars who have urged me to go ahead and see what happens. Who's to stop me?" Press Secretary Jen Psaki pointed out that "the President was very moved by the sight of prominent members of...

We have a property that abuts at the back onto a busy 2 lane thoroughfare (one direction each way) that is being expanded to 4 lanes (2 each way). Currently have a wooded barrier of about 30 feet deep which reduces the noise dramatically. Plus I put a wooden fence against an existing chain link fence to blunt the noise and give privacy. while I understand the need for the expansion (I use the road often and know expansion is necessary) I want to be compensated fairly as well. I’m going to lose about half of my backyard, including a...

Eskom’s warning that the country was threatened by months of rotating blackouts became a reality in less than 24 hours. The state-owned company, which produces most of South Africa’s power, said on Wednesday that controlled blackouts could return and last throughout the year. Even more concerning is that the company expects energy availability of the system will keep declining into early next year and probably only recover to current levels in six months. By Thursday, Eskom announced it was cutting 1GW from the grid. It doubled that amount on Friday in an outage that’s scheduled to last 13 hours. For...

Economic Freedom Fighters politician Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said those arguing against legalising land grabs are ‘beneficiaries of racism’. ‘Your time is up, white people,’ She added.

Global economic jitters make this an especially bad time for developing economies to embark on bad policy experiments, yet that’s what South Africa did this month in advancing a sweeping plan to expropriate private land. The only saving grace is that voters will have a chance to weigh in before this scheme becomes law. A parliamentary committee on Nov. 15 recommended a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to expropriate land without compensation. The idea has been a fixation in South Africa for years, in the belief that bouts of poor economic growth arise because colonial rule left whites...

South Africa has been thrown into the news because of President Donald Trump's recent tweet that he instructed his secretary of state to "closely study" alleged land seizures from white farmers in South Africa. Earlier this year, a land confiscation motion was brought by radical Marxist opposition leader Julius Malema, and it passed South Africa's Parliament by a 241-83 vote. Malema has had a long-standing commitment to land confiscation without compensation. In 2016, he told his supporters he was "not calling for the slaughter of white people -- at least for now." The land-grabbing sentiment is also expressed by Lindsay...

South Africa's government has lodged a formal protest alleging that President Trump's tweet questioning its confiscation of the property of white farmers is "an inappropriate interference with the internal affairs of our country. We are a sovereign nation. Everyone living within our borders is ours to do with as we deem best. As recently as July of this year, American President Obama acknowledged that this property transfer is inspiring great hope in our country." While the property seizures violate the country's current constitution, President Cyril Ramaphosa is asking the Parliament "to change the constitution and allow the government to seize...

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s government on Thursday criticized a tweet by President Donald Trump in which he said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study efforts to overhaul land ownership and “large scale killing of farmers” in Africa’s most-developed economy. Mr. Trump’s overnight tweet referenced a report by Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacking the U.S. government’s stance on land reform in South Africa, which he suggested was too lax. South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar after the tweet, and was 1.3% lower in Thursday morning trade. The ruling African National Congress has said it plans to change the...

"The farms aren't just owned. They were created." The track record is that irrigation technology transfer hasn't worked; and transferred land mostly ends up lying fallow. "Let's say 15,000 farmers decide to stop farming in South Africa. That's 30,000,000 fewer meals every day."

South Africa will push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow land expropriation without compensation, its president says. In a recorded address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ruling ANC will "finalise a proposed amendment" allowing the move. He said the reform was "of critical importance" to the economy. Recent months have seen growing anger about the slow pace of land reform in South Africa. The country's white minority is believed to have a disproportionate hold over land, with a few thousand white commercial farmers possessing the most fertile lands. However, critics fear expropriation could lead to land grabs,...

Suidlanders thanks the USA for radio equipment.

Rule Of Law: Markets tumbled after Cyprus and the EU said they might tax private bank accounts to pay for a bailout. Arbitrary property grabs are a new low and a bad precedent in this crisis. Worse still, it can happen here. As bad as tumbling markets around the world are, they seem to be the only signal strong enough to catch the attention of Europe's otherwise unaccountable bureaucrats who have long since learned to ignore street riots. As stocks fell from Tokyo to New York, Europe's leaders are scrambling to say they had nothing to do with the cause...

Tyranny: The media praised Cuba for slapping taxes on its impoverished citizens for the first time, calling the move "market-oriented" and "modern." In reality, it's just a new kind of theft from the same old dictatorship. To hear Reuters tell it, you'd think that Cuba, a brutal communist dictatorship for 53 years, has been a tax-free haven for all its lucky citizens. "Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will change under a new code starting Jan. 1," the newswire chirped, noting that the new taxes on private profits begin in the 35% vicinity. They're...

More than a decade after Zimbabwe’s government began seizing sprawling white-owned commercial farms, a new fight is brewing here over who will profit from the nation’s vast bounty of platinum, chromium, nickel and diamonds. In a move rooted in politics, the party of the aging president, Robert G. Mugabe, has begun pressuring companies operating in the country to comply with a law requiring that black Zimbabweans own more than half their shares. Mr. Mugabe has ruled the country since its independence in 1980 but has seen his popularity recede considerably in recent years. He won fewer votes than the opposition...

ncidentally, the government "overhaul" of GM is a useful shorthand for where we're heading: The first quid pro quo for the government giving you money (or "investing", as President Obama and David Brooks say) is that it gets to regulate your behavior. Not just who sits on your board or (see Sarkozy last week) where your factory has to be. When the government "pays" for your health care, it reserves the right to deny (as in parts of Britain) heart disease treatment for smokers or hip replacement for the obese. Why be surprised? When the state's "paying" for your health,...

WASHINGTON -- Inside a windowless, ornate room Thursday just across from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama and a group of senior economic advisers began the job of remaking the American automobile industry. The first order of business: Oust General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner. It "wasn't the hardest decision," said one government official.

Vladimir Putin makes Robert Maxwell look small-fry Patrick Hosking: Business commentary One of the curious trends of recent years has been the Western business community’s enduring love affair with the unlovely Russia. With every passing week, it becomes clearer that this is a country run by and for people little different from gangsters. The tanks rolling into Georgia have reminded us that they are gangsters with keys to a big arsenal. The largest Western companies, Shell and BP included, have been bullied, intimidated and forced into concessions by the Kremlin and its cronies. This week a Moscow court joined in...

AUGUSTA — Thousands of Mainers who were expecting a stimulus check from the federal government have gotten an unpleasant surprise. Instead of a check, they received a notice that the money has been seized by the state to pay overdue taxes or some other obligation, including child support. "As of this afternoon, we have a total of 1,137 stimulus refunds" that were seized, Jerome Gerard, acting executive director of Maine Revenue Services, the state’s tax agency, said Thursday. "That’s a total of $624,000 so far." Another state agency that benefits from the "offset" provisions of federal law is the support...

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- President Rafael Correa says Ecuador wants to buy out private oil companies unwilling to negotiate new deals with his government. Correa has asked companies now suing over an October decree that slashed their share of windfall oil profits to 1 percent to drop their lawsuits. Ecuador on Friday offered to boost those companies' share of soaring windfall profits to 30 percent. If companies aren't happy with that offer, Correa says his government will buy their assets at "a fair price." ...

Today began the tender by the Venezuelan Government for all of the shares of two well run companies, Electricidad de Caracas and CANTV. By May 8th. these two companies will become Government owned, will begin to deteriorate and will be a burden on the Government's finances. Thus in a country with huge crime rates, poverty rates at 40%, a failed state health system, malnutrition and all sorts of problems, ideology domiantes reality and the Government will spend some US$ 3 billion in purchasing two companies it does not need (That is $ 120 per citizen). Meanwhile, the prison observatory reports...